Toy Soldiers
by FearandLoathingXIX
Summary: Collection of lighthearted shorts following the completion of 'Soldier'.
1. Think Twice

So this accidentally wrote itself while I was working on a challenge for Romantiscue. Mildly inspired by 'Think Twice' by Eve 6.

This is going to be my dumping ground for and random Mulan ficlets that want to write themselves now that I've finished 'Soldier'. If there are any different circumstances concerning the universe or whether these are set in the same storyline as 'Soldier' I will state so, but for the large part assume these all come within the world of that story.

* * *

They are travelling together from a training camp in the far eastern provinces of China to the Capital, and stop over in a rest house on the way, paying the innkeeper generously for his best room. Shang has stepped outside to feed and water the horses for the night, and Li Mulan sits at a greasy table in the downstairs room, her hands folded politely in her lap as all around her men sip cheap Sake.

"Good evening, miss," a man at a nearby table greets, and she smiles briefly at him and then her eyes flit back to the door.

"I said _good evening_," he repeats, and Mulan looks back at him.

"Good evening," she echoes hollowly, and then her eyes are distant once more.

"You don't talk much, do you?" the fellow says after an uncomfortable pause, dragging his stool across a little so that it sits closer to hers; he is a good decade or so older than her, with a weathered and leathery face and thinning hair sprinkled around his blotchy crown.

Mulan says nothing, feeling that her silence gives all the answer she requires.

"Here by yourself, little miss?" her unpleasant companion questions, and leans in a little closer. "These can be dangerous parts you know, all sorts of-"

"I am perfectly capable of looking after myself," Mulan responds with a sigh, and wonders just how long Shang is going to spend talking to their horses tonight. She _knows_ he does it, not that she is innocent of it herself; although, she does wish sometimes that he wouldn't alwas go to them before her when he has a problem.

"Is that so,_ little miss_?" he says with a leer, and now Mulan is sure that her assumptions are not mistaken. His attentions to her were foul-meaning from the start.

"I am travelling with-" she begins to say, but breaks off when she feels the brush of dirty fingertips against her sleeve. The man obviously couldn't hear her properly through all that filth in his head. "What are you doing?!" she snaps harshly, pulling her arm away from him. "I am a-"

"Full of it, aren't you?" the man growls, and lashes out his hand fast to grab Mulan roughly by the shoulder. "You should learn to be more-!" the shout trails out to a yelp as the man sees the tall and imposing shadow fall over him, as Shang returns from outside and observes the exchange from across the room.

To put it plainly, he is furious, and looks like he might be considering a quick execution for the man who dared to touch his wife. However, Mulan tries to pacify him.

"Please, Shang," she says softly. "I can handle this." With this she calmly stands up, pulling her arm away from the grip of the stranger and straightening herself up. Then with a movement so fast the assailant can barely keep up, she whips around and punches him square in the face.

It is by no means gentle, and the unfortunate man goes tumbling head over heels off his stool, upsetting his table, and then falling under both in a bruised and humiliated pile, while the tinkle of broken crockery around him speaks of the price he will pay to the owner for damages.

"See?" Mulan says to her husband, who – while not looking any less enraged – seems to accept this resolution, and after taking her by the arm leads her away. Gods protect anyone who tried to touch _his _girl.

* * *

Man I hate pushy chat-up men. They just _don't know when to quit._

Review if it pleases you, as it pleases me. ;) oh yeah.


	2. Business Talk

La la la, I am working on something Romantiscue challenged me still, but this happened in the meaaaantimeeee!  


* * *

"Have you heard?" one man whispered to his comrade, both of them ankle-deep in deep and filthy mud, bamboo poles with sacks of rice hung from them mantled across their shoulders.

"Heard what, Chiang?" his comrade replied, seeking the entertainment of gossip to wear away the dull throbbing pain of his muscles.

"The General's wife is coming to visit, I hear," Chiang explained, thrill lighting up his weary eyes.

"Is that true?!" the other man said excitedly. "Isn't she that famous war hero?"

"Yes, yes," Chiang interjected, for everyone knew of the tales of the famous woman warrior by now. "More importantly, though, The General is bound to ease off on us when his wife is present."

"You think?!" his comrade said eagerly; the General Li's training regimes had only hardened with time, and with the threats to China only increasing they needed a strong and fierce army to keep the Middle Kingdom united. Or so the General liked to preach.

"I'm sure of it. War hero or not, she is still a woman," Chiang stated confidently. "We've met hundreds and will meet hundreds more. Her nature will naturally be repulsed to these kinds of conditions. _Undoubtedly _she will plead with the General for kindness, and, not wanting to seem cruel to his new wife – for I hear they have not even a single child yet – he will lighten our training." The proud-natured recruit held his head up with a smug grin, as if he had all the certainty in China behind him. His friend was easily seduced by the suggestions and smiled too through the rain.

"Gods help she get here quickly then," he groaned as his foot slipped in the mud once more. "I am _freezing_."

Unfortunately for them it was still several hours until Mulan rode into the camp on horseback, dressed in her full armour and carrying the seal of the emperor to prove her identity. The men had been assembled in central camp to greet her, and all eyes flitted wondrously between the small figure on horseback and the large standing nearby; curious as to how the General would greet this creature alleged to be his wife.

"General Li!" the supposed woman on horseback barked, her voice was high and lacking masculinity, but was by no means soft or welcoming in the expected tones of a woman. First impressions questioned if this person even _was _the wife of the General, and possibly even a woman at all. She could have easily passed for a boy who had not yet hit puberty, a few of the men decided.

"Captain Fa," Shang returned, extending a hand to the rider as she dismounted from her horse. It did not escape the men's notice that he had spoken to her using her own family name, not his own – if they _were _married that made little sense, they supposed.

"So these are your new recruits?" Mulan announced, gazing across the men with a keen and critical eye. She removed her helmet, and the men observed that she even had tied her hair high upon her head in a top knot, removing even further the appearance of femininity from her.

Shang nodded in answer to her question, and then elaborated further on their progress. "They do not take well to this weather we are having," he remarked, for he had not been ignorant of the complaints that riddled his men about the conditions they were being trained in.

"Is that so?" Mulan replied, and above all others the eyes of two men were trained on her relentlessly – the two who had convinced themselves of her leniency; two who were now beginning to doubt that assurance.

"They wish for the training program to be lightened until the weather improves," Shang said, his arms folded sternly across his chest and not even his body showing any sign of affection to the woman at his side. There was a pause as Mulan appeared to be mulling over his words, and Chiang and his comrade eagerly awaited the pledge for leniency they so wanted.

Mulan turned to face the men full on, and said quite clearly, "The General showed _me _no mercy, in the past or present. You men should expect the same." The hope in the men's eyes dropped like a hot dumpling. No mercy towards even his own wife? If she even _was _his wife; it seemed like perhaps they weren't even married at all.

"Well said Captain Fa," Shang concurred proudly. "Perhaps you would like to demonstrate a few of my 'impossible' exercises to the men." Mulan visibly sighed, and unbuckled her sword from her side with a shrug of apathy.

"Which of your impossible exercises shall I perform?" she questioned obediently, but to the trained eye it was clear to see the jeering tone in her speech.

"The climbing post is still your favourite?" Shang said.

"As ever," she confirmed, and looked around until she saw the traditional post with the fine-flighted arrow pinned at the very top. She set off towards it with a cheerful step, seemingly ignorant of the sodden ground and rain around her.

"Aren't you going to even take off your armour?" Shang questioned as he followed her, and the men followed him.

"I can't be bothered," she replied. "I could do this in my sleep."

The men were astounded, and proved to be further astounded as the small, heavily weighted figure of Fa Mulan swung up the weights they had sworn made this climbing exercise _impossible_, and then quickly scaled the post without effort, only stopping to wrap her feet in lengths of rough sacking when the weather made her boots slip on the post at first.

Springing up to top like a money demon and snatching the arrow out of the post, she slid back down and handed it to the man nearest to her

"It is not a question of working against the weights, as working _with _them," she explained to him. "One does not try to swim against the current of a river."

"Quite so," Shang interjected. "Now, seeing as the men have something to think about for now, I believe you came here with a purpose of some sort."

"Ah, yes, General," Mulan replied promptly. "I will explain in your quarters, if you would." Then, not even taking her by the hand, the two military tigers of China strode off towards the Officer's tent. There were some suggestive murmurs from the men, but more by far were that it did not seem like there was a marriage at all between the two, let alone any feelings of love.

Mulan removed the heavier, water-logged sections of her armour as she stepped inside the spacious tent Shang had been provided with.

"They do have a point – your men," she commented. "The weather _is _wretched."

"An excuse," Shang retorted, "and no more." Mulan suddenly turned around to face him as she discarded the last of her armour and smiled for the first time since arriving in camp.

"Hello," she said warmly, opening her arms as she stepped towards him.

"Hello, love," Shang replied, meeting her embrace and pressing a heartfelt kiss against her wind-chilled cheeks. Business was business, and their private lives private; one was not to interfere with the other – that was why Mulan still used her own family name within the army, and Shang treated her no differently to any other Captain in the army while conducting official business. "How are you?"

"Cold, wet," Mulan said with a shrug, pressing her cold hands against her husband's stomach to warm them. "Here, let's sit." With a few quick paces she had seated herself by Shang's low table, across which there were a number of maps and reports strewn.

As he joined her, Mulan moulded herself against Shang's shoulder, curled comfortably and happily around his strong frame.

"Now," she said calmly, all business in spite of their positions. "There is trouble brewing in the North... The Emperor tells me he plans to..."

"Wait," Shang interrupted. "You have forgotten something." Mulan stared up at him challengingly.

"What? I have forgotten nothing!" she protested.

"My greeting," Shang replied with a smirk, and his wife merely rolled her eyes. Sitting up slightly, she wrapped an arm around his neck and kissed him, lingering long enough to give satisfaction but withdrawing just before he was ready – something she was well aware of. "Tease," he grumbled as she settled back into the crook of his arm again, and pulled close a map of the northern territories.

"Now," she began again, serious in appearance but the undeniable sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "The Emperor tells me..."

* * *

There you go, a little fluff and goodness for your souls. Review if ya give a damn.


	3. The General's Wife

I am quite aware it must have been well over a year if not more since I updated this collection, but it was always meant to sit as a place to offshoot my random Mulan!inclinations, and watching 2/3rds of the movie today and then rereading all of 'Soldier' my large chaptered fic + a car journey gave me a sudden passionate urge to write this. So I did.

* * *

It was slightly unconventional, having the General's wife resident in the army's largest and most prestigious training camp, but once the troops got accustomed to seeing Li Mulan bustling around in a loose summer robe – usually hauling piles of armour or weapons, wrapped up in playing Xingqui with anyone who dared to test her ability, or writing correspondence – it was actually rather nice having a woman around, or so the men liked to say. Not that she offered a conventional 'woman's touch' in any sense of the world.

It was, at least, a break from staring at endless unattractive men in battered armour. The general's wife was described as quite a beauty, provided you did not catch her too early in the morning.

Though she was purported to be a great soldier and brilliant mind, it was not often that recruits had a chance to see this – however, they would all witness it at least _once_ over the course of their training, and their opinions of Li Mulan would be forever changed.

For one group, the moment came in the middle of spring, only a few weeks into their training. General Li was making them spar, and a good number of the men were grumbling about what they thought to be 'unfair' pairings.

"On a battlefield, you do not get to choose your opponent," Shang lectured, eyeing the smaller men who were most resentful of his setting them up with the larger, more muscular recruits. "You will fight whoever is in front of you, and you will need to win. If you believe that size and strength always wins, you will have to learn otherwise. Mulan!" he barked suddenly, and caught her walking across the compound, chatting to one of the other captains. "Your time, please."

Shang took his place in the centre of a chalk fighting ring as his wife approached, an open-legged robe flapping around her ankles, no more than light summer wear, such as a woman would normally wear in her home during the warmer months. She smiled brightly, and as a sandal-clad foot stepped across the line, without a word of warning Shang flew at her.

There were a few gasps as the General flew fist-first at his wife, throwing the sort of blow that made even the boldest of their number pale, but without breaking her stride or dropping her smile, Mulan parried with a forearm and slipped effortlessly by Shang. Stepping behind him, into the blind inaccessible space just behind his back, she raised a foot and stamped hard on the back of his leg, buckling a knee. Shang did not falter much and turned, lashing out with a sharp, fast elbow, which Mulan ducked.

As she rose, the small and delicate-looking woman drove her palm up underneath Shang's chin, tipping his head back, then chopped him in the side and – faster than some of the men were able to track – turned full-around with a high-kick that seemed to pass through Shang's arm itself and club him hard across the face. When the General only shook his head, then threw forwards a wrecker of a punch, Mulan dodged again, like wind blowing the branches of a tree, toying for fun; effortlessly in motion. She trapped Shang's outstretched arm by the wrist, holding it behind her arm as she drove a fist sharply against his elbow, eliciting a yelp of pain and a fierce counter from the man she pledged to love and cherish forever.

The men were awe-struck, to put it shortly, and few could believe the friendly, cheerful woman often seen helping struggling recruits was the same as the dangerous, merciless fighter who moved before them now. She was noticeably faster than Shang, and the General was _fast_, and while never comparing in brute strength, she didn't need to – she went for weak points, joints, toes, threw her opponent off balance and made sure he was never able to hit her directly.

However, Shang was an impressive fighter himself, and not everything could be dodged. Mulan took several hits, but when the men expected her to go flying, she only winced and quickly got out of striking range.

After a nasty-looking chop to the side, she managed to slip behind her husband, then drove her foot hard into the back of his knee, pressing down as she slammed her own chop onto his shoulder; the forces combined were enough to drive him down onto one knee, but as Shang fell he reached over his shoulder and grabbed her by the chest of her robe, throwing her clear over his shoulder and slamming down into the ground.

Mulan broke her fall perfectly, rolling, twisting and then slipping out of the way of any attempts to pin her, and was back on her feet before Shang was. She still moved fluidly in spite of wearing clunky-looking wooden sandals, and when she kicked hard directly into Shang's face, several onlookers winced merely to look upon such an attack.

Shang staggered back to his knees, then fell forwards onto his hands, blood dripping from his nose. Mulan low-kicked his arms out from underneath him and the General – one of the most respected men in the Emperor's army – plummeted clumsily to the ground, a firm foot planted on the back of his head as Mulan flashed a smile at the men, counting loudly to three to cement her victory.

"D'okay, Mulan," Shang was heard to mumble. "Enmough."

After giving a small bow, Mulan stepped back and offered her husband a hand in getting up, then gave him a cloth to staunch his bleeding nose with.

"Size and strength are nothing, if your opponent cannot hit you," Mulan continued the lesson in lieu of her husband's incapacitated ability to speak. "Make sure he does not have the chance." The men were stunned, some mouths hanging open, none speaking.

"Exmactly." Shang affirmed, clearing his face up a little and then attempting to regain control of his own class. "Though Captain Fa is small, she is fast and accurate. Any man who thinks that their size and weakness is a barrier to their abilities, look and learn. Furthermore, anyone who thinks that I have given my wife any lenience is welcome to try her hand themselves... though I do not recommend it," he added gruellingly. Still smiling, Mulan turned to him.

"I'm sorry, dear," she said sympathetically, and raised up on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek. "You did ask. May I get on with my business, now?" Shang put one hand around Mulan and pressed his lips to her forehead in a reciprocal gesture.

"Yes, thank you, Captain. Dismissed," he bade, and then Mulan skipped merrily off, followed by every pair of eyes. None of them would ever consider 'the General's Wife' in quite the same way again.

* * *

Because you know what Mulan is a fucking boss and I cannot get enough of her kicking the shit out of people, even/especially Shang. You know he tooootally digs it as well ;)


End file.
